Interoperable electronic prescribing in the United States: a progress report.

Although the vast majority of U.S. physicians still handwrite prescriptions, adoption of electronic prescribing is slowly growing.

E-prescribing and the medicare modernization act of 2003.

Provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 are intended to foster electronic prescribing by requiring standards for interoperability and by permitting third parties to offset implementation costs. Although physicians have been slow to embrace e-prescribing, adoption may increase in 2006, when a new tide of pharmacy messages will arrive from patients entering multi-tier drug coverage under Medicare. However, the e-prescribing systems selected may lack the advanced features needed to improve patient safety and chronic disease control.